


Office Hour

by TwistedLight



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Gen, One Shot, Post-Canon, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 08:57:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12931899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedLight/pseuds/TwistedLight
Summary: What can you do when the fight is over? What can you do when you feel the rot encroach upon on all that you hold dear?





	Office Hour

Two years after the Dark Lord Voldemort had been banished from this world. Two years of hopeful confusion, spent by the Aurors in a hurried and clumsy cleanup of the remaining Death Eaters, time the common folk of Wizarding Britain used to account for and mourn their dead while also finding enough strength to celebrate the living... a time of turmoil a certain person who had a hand in the key events had spent not knowing what to do. At the anniversary of the War's End, Hermione Granger was sitting alone in her office, nursing her drink and contemplating the trainwreck course that was her life. 

One would think that it would be Harry Potter who would find himself in such a situation. After all, with prophecy fulfilled The Chosen One was no longer needed, left by cruel fates on the sidelines to bask in his glory, left powerless to change the corrupt world as he wished for it was too stagnant and complacent.

 Even after all of discovered Death Eaters lost all of their political and financial power, their _families_ and families of their quiet sympathizers never did. Surely, grand speeches were thrown around, together with massive shows of charity towards the restoration of public order and reparations to the victims of war. Praises to The-Boy-Who-Lived, sung unanimously. Wizarding Britain seemed to move together to a brighter future. 

But after a short while … everything went back to where it was. The world returned to its routine. The cheer of Voldemort’s demise faded. The society started to function as it was back agan. Shops and services functioned, Hogwarts accepted students, Ministry remained as bribeable and useless as it ever was. Purebloods still enjoyed all the privileges of life, boosted as always by millennia of “tradition”, while half-bloods and muggleborns founded themselves barred from any kind of meaningful social advancement. Same old, same old.  
  
That is what eventually drove Harry to the edge. Always at the ready to defend the world, especially in the last year of the war was restless against the way that people just _accepted_ that. _“Don’t fix what ain’t broke”,“Smile for the camera”, “Your time in spotlight is over, step aside”_ \- was wordlessly thrown at the now Lord Potter. He, of course, felt gravely offended by such treatment… yet found himself powerless no matter how much of his political might, combined from being a Lord, an heir to Dumbledore’s legacy of Light and the Chosen One he threw around. Always met with voices of _reason_ in Wizengamot, always met by smiling old people who told him not to be so rash, to think things through before he spoke… How could one protect the world from corruption when it was the world itself that propagated it? When there was nobody else but him and his circle of friends trying to change anything? Was there even a point in protecting such a world?  
  
And so a month ago he left. Liquidated most of his assets, left quite a sum for Hermione’s and Ron’s families despite their protests, donated half of what was left to Hogwarts and then went to say goodbye.  
  
_“Don’t worry, ‘Mione,”-_ he smiled back then. - _“I just need some time away from this mess. I’m sure I’ll miss you guys too much not to come back.”_ A lie, of course. One does not burn the bridges and expect to come back like that. They both knew it.  
  
_“If that’s what you feel need in your life, I have no right to stop you. I just hope you really thought this through,” -_ Hermione answered, barely holding her tears at that moment. - _“And if you need anything, you know me, Ron and others are always there for you. Be sure to write and come back as you feel.”_

“ _Absolutely. I know you worrywarts will all go stir crazy if you won’t hear from me. I do remember the second year.”_

 “ _At least tell me where you’re going in case something comes up. You know, constant vigilance and all that.” “ **Please don’t leave us behind.”**_ went through her mind, hoping that Harry somehow will hear it. Alas, our hero was not the one to pry into unheard desires by Legilimency.

  “ _Sorry no can do, ‘Mione. I want my first destination to stay secret for a bit and then… Then I won’t know where I’m going anymore myself, so telling you would be moot. Take care of yourself and Ron, will you?” **“** **Don’t try and find me.”**_  
  
_“Of course, Harry. You too stay safe.”_  
  
**_“I’ll miss you._ ” **echoed in their minds, her plea to stay unheard by his whisper of regret. 

 After that he was gone. The press and society rumbled about it for roughly a week, then smoothly forgotten of him leaving, only occasionally mentioning his departure. Hermione was disturbed to see how both adaptive and set in stone the minds of Wizards were, how fast they were to abandon their savior. They would accept anything, make any lie reality just to keep their little worlds untouched.  
  
And what could she do about it? Already her glory as the veteran of War has started to wane, already purebloods have started to sneer at her behind her back, no doubt plotting to have her demoted or removed from the post of the assistant director of Department of International Magical Cooperation.  
  
“Let them have it,” - Hermione grumbled as she poured herself another shot, noting her hands shaking from anger and alchohol. “Not like I wanted the bloody job anyway. The gall of them, shoving a trophy post at me. Bunch of doddering old wankers, the lot of them.”  
  
She giggled at her dirty mouth. It was relaxing to let loose sometimes, even for a moment. To not be the omniscient know-it-all. To not bother to control what you say or think. To just not care about anything…  
  
Her mind returned to Harry and his “daring escape”. Could she do it too? Could she break her shackles? Could she stop playing the game, stop trying to change things? Could she stop fighting and just live her own life?  
  
“I can’t. Sorry, Harry, I can’t. Even if I know it’s futile. Even if it’s just being hamster in a wheel I can’t quit!” she cried out as she clasped her head. The floodgates opened, her mascara ruined in an instant, Hermione Granger let out a scream she did not know she was holding in herself. The pain of losing her best friend, of being trapped in a crowd of smiling predators, of not being able to talk it over with anyone, not even her family… it all came to the front. Her restraint, weakened by fatigue and alcohol, could no longer contain her tears.  
  
And so she sobbed, her head in her hands, trembling as she wept, no hand to pat her on the back, no voice to whisper words of love and reassurance.  
  
Time passed. Hermione gathered herself and fixed her visage, then headed home. Ron was probably getting worried and she only had one day to rest before the work resumed.

**Author's Note:**

> First thing posted on Ao3. An experiment of sorts. Let me know whether it's successful.


End file.
